Iran War And Energy Crisis: Should India Think Of Gas Swaraj Policy?
India needs to reimagine its cooking fuel system without fossil fuel gas and rely more on traditional methods, the columnist says.
Published : March 13, 2026 at 12:57 PM IST
Even as the government has assured Indians that there is no need for panic for cooking gas cylinder, people are feeling the pinch differently. The first victims of the Iran war here in India have been those who use LNG or LPG for cooking.
Gas prices have been skyrocketing, with reports emerging from various parts of the country about longer queues and empty cylinders. Reports of black marketing and hoarding have also surfaced over the last few days. Can we deal with the situation?
For the unversed, over 70% of Indian households use Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as their primary cooking fuel, and 80% of households have access to LPG. Data from 2020-21 even suggests that 89% of urban households used LPG as their primary source, compared to 49.4% in rural areas.
Now, with the price of the domestic cylinder increased by Rs 60 and commercial cylinders increasing by over Rs 100, panic is writ large as prices are expected to rise further. The scarcity has increased to such levels that the Delhi High Court canteen didn’t serve cooked meals due to a shortage of gas cylinders. Huge queues were reported in the National Capital Region.
The urban poor are already scrambling for gas cylinders. They don’t have access to alternate cooking fuels, and prices of cylinders due to the panic are reaching Rs 3000 in some regions.
The reason for this price spike is the escalation of the war involving Iran, and subsequently the blockade and militarisation of the Strait of Hormuz, followed by attacks on major oil and gas production facilities in the Gulf region. As a result, major LNG hubs like Qatar have shut production completely, while Iran warned that oil per barrel could go up to $200.
In recent days, India has dropped its historic partner Iran and chosen to side with the Israel-US coalition, which makes India a target of economic blockades, too. Russia, as a result, has stopped giving concessions to India also. Going forward, even if the war stops, India will find its gas and oil requirements in dire need or totally dependent on the wishes of the USA, unless we change course and have a new policy for gas sovereignty.
Policy For Gas Swaraj
With changing geopolitical developments, India may not have access to energy supplies from Russia or Iran, and it could take some time for Gulf nations to return to normal production cycles. Hence, Gulf oil and gas could become scarcer and more expensive in the coming times. Keeping this in mind, we need to reorient our gas policy, primarily import-based currently, towards domestic production and sovereignty. The first step in the journey is to ramp up bio-gas production and storage.
India currently produces around 2.07 billion m3/year, but has a vast potential of 29–48 billion m3/year. We need to harness this potential.
The move towards this includes the creation of bio-CNG plants in each district linked with clusters which produce ample cattle wastes and agrarian residues. The government already has a scheme for sheltering unclaimed cattle, and it can expand on the project and give financial subsidies for creating bio-CNG units alongside the cattle shelters.
The government agencies at GAIL or state-level agencies can purchase the bio-CNG produced and supplied to the nearest cities for cooking gas purposes. Each district needs one or two huge bio-CNG plants and a network of decentralised smaller and medium bio-CNG units, which can provide cheap gas for local consumption.
The spent slurry produced by biogas plants can be supplied to nearby bio-fertiliser units and converted into organic fertiliser for farmers. This could reduce dependence on chemical fertilisers and help improve soil health.
For the rural population, there should be special watch on deforestation, because of higher gas prices, people would naturally go for fuel wood, and this would be bad for us. Hence, traditional biomass fuels like cow-dung cakes for cooking should be encouraged in India. We have to reimagine India's cooking fuel system without fossil fuel gas and rely more on traditional methods.
Bio-CNG can also be used for creating urea. By investing in bio-CNG plants across the country, the government would help the nation achieve phased retirement from Gulf gas dependency and also more domestic and greener urea.
We already have the raw material and feedstock for ample production of bio-CNG, with more technical innovations from our public research institutions and partnerships with the Indian businesses, we could scale up in a short, dedicated period of time.
But the Bio-CNG programme is not limited only to the countryside, as urban centres have a huge role to play. From the coming year, alongside the Solid Waste Treatment Plants (STPs), the government should have a mandate for the production of bio-gas for bigger apartment buildings, malls, commercial buildings, schools, restaurants, etc.
There are currently home units for the production of biogas from food waste available, but we need a larger-scale adoption of this technology.
Also, by adopting or innovating Sulabh-style toilet-cum-biogas production models, each of the mentioned complexes can produce some share of its cooking gas requirement. The government, through GAIL, should have a programme where the excessive unutilised gas produced by these complexes could be used by the gas grid in urban areas.
For the village and block-level too, smaller biogas cum toilet complexes should be made under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). Instead of blending ethanol in fuel, the government needs to focus on blending bio-CNG or completely distributing green bio-CNG cylinders to the public.
All municipal waste management authorities around major urban centres should also be asked to prepare a methane or biogas capture model report, so that biogas escaping our landfills can be utilised and help save our import bill. Apart from this, a major gas infrastructure overhaul is required in the country towards bio-based production.
Now, apart from gas, the government needs to also ramp up its solar cooking ecosystem. First, there is a scarcity of model solar cooker apparatus and research in the country. For a country that receives ample sunlight, the government needs to push harder for decentralised solar modules that lessen the load on gas for cooking. Newer R&D are required in creating home units, while the price of the current modules needs to be made more affordable. New solar electric hybrid cookers should be introduced in the markets that can also work at night.
In states with higher solar radiation, the government should provide subsidies and encourage homemakers to adopt this technology.
(Disclaimer: The facts and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of ETV Bharat)
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